Bells of Chicago

On their frosty Thanksgiving morning, Chicagoans massed in the parks of the Midway, along sidewalk and gutter, all facing toward the University of Chicago's Gothic chapel, as the sound of bells from no direction that one could fix filled and emptied the air, now eerily fading, now resurging like a seashell's roar, brassily clanging, diminishing, mellowing into silver chimes. It was the University of Chicago's first carillon concert. In the 200-ft. tower of the chapel, Carilloneur Kamiel Lefevere, humped on his bench, was striking with clenched fists the keys of a huge 72-note instrument, the second that John Davison Rockefeller has given in memory of his mother Laura Spelman Rockefeller, who liked bells. The stone tower seemed to shake as the concussions of big bronze bells struck the walls of the stone bell room, tongued back & forth. All together the bells weigh 220 tons; the biggest, 17 tons, is the Great Bourdon, second biggest tuned bell in the world, diameter 10 ft.

Last April Chicago's carillon was tested at Croydon, England, before the Bishops of Croydon, Guildford and Norwich and 2,700 English & Irish bell ringers. Chicagoans inside & outside the chapel last week heard Carilloneur Lefevere, imported from Manhattan's Rockefeller-built Riverside Baptist Church, play "Now Thank We All Our God," a spot of counterpoint by Handel, "Annie Laurie," a Welsh folksong arid an ancient hymn from the Low Countries, home of the carillon.

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